We’re big fans of pretty much everything the fine folks over at Brasserie Thiriez create, and we immediately snapped this one up for the club. This hoppy saison was done in partnership with Get Radical, an excellent newer brewing project in Paris (they started up in 2013) that’s been doing some exquisite collaborations. Their “Saison de Mars” gets hopped with Mosaic, Aramis and Simcoe, though the effect overall is much more of a focused, herbal saison than the tropical, piney inclination of Mosaic, etc. might suggest. This is peppery, crisp saison first and foremost, emphasizing the influence of that exceptional Brasserie Thiriez house yeast.

This one offers up, not surprisingly, a gorgeous pour: hazy golden-orange, bright color, with firm white foam. There’s nice lacing left when one moves the glass—and this appears almost like unfiltered honey when held to the light. Those initial aromatics give a very clear sense up front of what this rustic saison’s all about: an intricate mix of herbs and floral and fruit notes that originate from the combination of the Thiriez yeast and hop additions. There’s also a bit of a malty underpinning apparent in glimpses, which provides some hints of both toffee and caramel, which play well alongside the inherent fruitiness here. Dry, herbal, endlessly crisp.

And the overall feel of this beer, with that first sip, drives home exactly why we dig Thiriez releases. This is impactfully bitter—with all sort of herbs and fresh fruit arriving from those hop additions. While the mouthfeel remains just the right level of dry, the bitterness doesn’t overstay its welcome, and there’s a pervasive toastiness and crispness to the whole package. It’s an absolute pleasure to drink, with fresh grassiness, hay, toasted and subtly caramelized malts, and enough overall complexity on the malt side of things for us to occasionally think of this as an intriguing bière de garde (when the hop wave ebbs). Everything just stays in the right place, with massive hops meeting peppery yeast character and fine-tuned maltiness.

Pairing & Aging Notes:

The hops will fade with time, for sure, and we generally recommend enjoying this one fresh. Those hops also influence the pairing approaches, and something a bit fattier such as roasted duck or turkey should do well to soften its bitterness while playing well with its herbal notes.

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